Nunavut's Arctic Islands opened for oil & gas exploration
Doug Ashbury
Northern News Services
Yellowknife (Dec 11/00) - Nunavut's Arctic Island are a new focus for oil and gas exploration.
On Thursday, the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development's Northern Oil and Gas Directorate called on industry to review potential areas of exploration.
The directorate will review the submissions then call for bids.
"We fully support the development of Nunavut's petroleum resources and are very pleased that the first call for nominations after the signing of the Nunavut land claim agreement is about to go ahead," said NTI first vice-president James Eetoolook in a statement.
"This ... marks the start of a new era for exploration in one of Canada's largest and least explored sedimentary basins," added Nunavut Sustainable Development Minister Olayuk Akesuk.
The area of interest is the Sverdrup Basin where 19 discoveries were made between 1969 and 1985. Among them were a major gas field at Drake Point and the Bent Horn oil field, which produced light crude until 1996. One discovery was made for every six wells drilled.
According to the National Energy Board, the area holds a significant portion of Canada's remaining oil and gas reserves. The Arctic Islands could hold 10 per cent of Canada's remaining crude oil resources and 23 per cent of the country's natural gas resources.
According to the federal government, this first call since the Nunavut land claim was settled has been "a while in the making" but all agree the "time is right" to re-open the territory for oil and gas exploration.
The plan is to make a call for nominations an annual event in Nunavut as well as in the Beaufort Sea-Mackenzie Delta area of the NWT.
To obtain licences, companies must commit to certain amounts of exploration. Usually it means drilling at least one well in the first term of the licence to hold the licence for a second term.
Hart Searle, an Imperial Oil spokesperson, declined to comment specifically on the call citing competitive reasons. But he did say: "Generally speaking, there is a lot of interest in the North as a frontier area."
